Coda Coffee, a Denver-based specialty coffee roaster and sustainable wholesaler, last week announced its Farm2Cup program, designed to improve Coda’s coffee quality, as well as have farmers give back to their local communities. The program rewards farmers from popular coffee-producing regions throughout the world for improving the quality of coffee products, while also requiring them to reinvest a portion of those rewards in the community.

From Coda Coffee:

Coda expects Farm2Cup participants to use the funds they receive for research, development, experimentation, best practice sharing and sometimes inner-village or cross-community competitions to improve coffee quality. The program also requires farmers to give back to their local community.

Coda Coffee informally implemented the program as a business practice about two years ago, but is now formalizing the program, launching www.farm2cup.org and labeling the coffee bags for customers and partners.

“By simply drinking Farm2Cup coffee, you know you’re enjoying a product that supports people around the world,” said Tim Thwaites, Coda Coffee co-founder. “In addition, the coffee exceeds taste and quality expectations because of best practice sharing and the traceability of the coffee from farm to cup.”

Farm2Cup can drastically impact the livelihood of the farmer’s family, employees and even an entire village. Coda Coffee works with farmers around the world, in countries such as Guatemala, Ethiopia, Brazil and Honduras. Some examples of how Farm2Cup funds have helped farmers and communities include:

-- El Salvador: Coda Coffee held fundraisers for a school in Ayutepeque,
which funded a new kitchen, utensils, desks and chairs for the
children. Additionally, the community is working on plans for a school
library.
-- Guatemala: In Guatemala, Coda purchases high quality micro lots of
coffee to encourage overall product improvement. The community has
also held cupping competitions, where the local coffee farmers come
together to have their coffee graded. The premium that Coda Coffee
pays for the best coffee has helped build a road to A'Achimbal, a
school, church, community center and 80 homes with electricity and
running water.
-- Las Capucas, Honduras: Cupping competitions in Honduras also helped
improve coffee quality, which increased the coffee's price and allowed
one community to build cupping labs, a wet mill and a dry mill.

Coda Coffee performs site visits and its importer, Atlas Coffee Importer, assists with annual quality control checks. The trips are to make sure that farmers are spending time and money on improving their products and communities, which allows them to stay in the Farm2Cup program.

“There is a great story behind every cup of Farm2Cup coffee,” added Tommy Thwaites, Coda Coffee co-founder. “This program helps personalize those stories and makes a global purchase feel local. A better quality of life for our farmers actually does make a better cup of coffee for our customers.”

To learn more about the program, visit www.farm2cup.org . To find Farm2Cup coffee, look for the Farm2Cup logo at coffee shops. Farm2Cup products are available where Coda Coffee is sold. To find a retail location near you that serves Coda Coffee, visit www.codacoffee.com .

About Coda Coffee Coda Coffee Company is family owned and operated by brothers Tim and Tommy Thwaites. Originally from the Seattle area, they took different paths and reconnected in Denver, Colorado and launched Coda Coffee in 2005. Coda Coffee strives to be a corporate role model, with business practices focused on social responsibility and environmental protection. Through proactive education, advocacy, partnerships and the belief that success is reciprocal, Coda does what it takes to exceed expectations. Learn more at www.codacoffee.com .

Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. Feedback and story ideas are welcome at publisher (at) dailycoffeenews.com, or see the "About Us" page located at the bottom of this site for contact information.